Your Boss is Watching You Shop Online

Your Boss is Watching You Shop Online

47 percent of companies say they monitor Internet and e-mail usage of employees.

Workers who do their holiday shopping online while at work could end up losing their jobs. Nearly half of companies monitor employees' online activities, and a significant portion consider private use of office Internet/e-mail worthy of termination, according to a new survey from CareerBuilder. Even with these potential consequences, many employees are shopping online in their offices anyway. Rosemary Haefner, vice president of human resources at CareerBuilder, says that these workers should know what the company policies are first, and they need to realize that as long as they're on the clock, the job comes first. “Employees need to be aware of how much time they are spending online, regardless of the time of year,” Haefner says. “Most employers know that their employees may use some time during the workday for Internet shopping, non-work e-mails and other personal matters. But employees need to be mindful of whether their employer has specific guidelines in place restricting these behaviors.” More than 2,400 employers and 3,100 workers took part in the survey.

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